Kaleb Floyd caps Bulldog basketball career with CRL Player of the Year

Rusty Rae/News-Register file photo## Willamina forward Kaleb Floyd launches a jumper during a league game against Rainier. Floyd was recently named the Coastal Range League Player of the Year for leading the Bulldogs to the 2021 league title. He paced the team in scoring and rebounding for the second straight season.

WILLAMINA – Senior forward Kaleb Floyd capped his Willamina High School boys basketball career by winning the Class 3A Coastal Range League’s (CRL) Player of the Year award for the 2021 season.

Floyd powered the Bulldogs to their first conference title since the 2005 season. Willamina finished the year with a 9-4 overall record and a sterling 7-1 mark in the CRL.

Bulldog head coach Cliff Toney was named the CRL’s Coach of the Year for his role in leading the program to a league championship.

Floyd’s versatile skillset as a small forward proved instrumental in Coach Toney’s motion offense. The senior led the team in scoring and rebounding for the second straight year, often hitting from midrange on pull-up jumpers.

Defensively, Floyd’s reach allowed him to guard opponents like Yamhill-Carlton’s towering Seely-Roberts twins – Malachi and Moroni – in the first round of the state playoffs. While Willamina fell in the opening round of the postseason, Floyd scored 17 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked two shots.

“I’m going to miss the hell out of Kaleb,” Toney noted after the playoff loss. “What a great kid. He never did anything but give me everything he had. What a great representative for our school.”

Floyd was a first-team all-CRL selection.

Senior forward Antonio Hernandez, freshman point guard Cohen Heller and freshman wing Kaleb Cruickshank were second team.

Senior guard Daniel Portugal was an honorable mention.